Impact of Radio Advocacy on the Reduction of Drug Abuse among Youths in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

Background: The mention of Niger Delta rings a bell in Nigeria not just for its abundance of oil and gas reserves but also for the polluted environment, youths restiveness, violent crimes like kidnapping, cultism and militancy. The Niger Delta have been at the receiving end of Nigeria’s political cum economic quagmire with its attendant consequences on the youth population. Irked by the litany of mentally deranged youths strewn across the streets of the Niger Delta States of Nigeria, the researcher was constrained to investigate the impact of radio advocacy on the reduction of drug abuse among youths in the Niger Delta region if Nigeria. Objectives: The objectives were to evaluate how radio advocacy campaign against drug abuse had affected the reduction drug abuse among youths in the area, find out the extent of youth exposure to radio advocacy messages on drug abuse and how the youths perceived such advocacy among other things. Method: Using the descriptive survey design and a sample of 385 respondents, drawn from the population of youths between ages 15 - 46 resident in Rivers, Bayelsa and Akwa-Ibom states totaling 15,587,997. According to United Nations, Sixty percent of the population is made up of youths. That means 60 percent of which equals 9,352,798. The researchers employed proportionate sampling technique to be able to cover the three states under focus. To this end, Rivers State had 193 respondents for contributing 50.2 per cent of the study population, Akwa-Ibom State had 123 respondents for contributing 31.9 per cent of the population while Bayelsa State had 68 respondents for contributing 17.9 per cent of the population. The researcher utilised the convenience sample technique to reach the target respondents. The instrument used for this study was the questionnaire. The method for analyzing the data was using the Weighted Mean Score on a four point Likert Scale with a 2.5 decision rule. Results: the research found that youths of the Niger Delta were very much exposed to radio advocacy programmes on drug abuse due to the high entertainment belt of the radio station being their bait, the youths perceived the radio advocacy on drug abuse as educative and engaging considering the complexities of their age bracket and radio advocacy on drug abuse had affected the prevalence of drug abuse positively by bringing down the incidences of open display cum consumption of illicit drugs and influencing the enforcement efforts of security agencies. This implies that the construction of social reality theory applied in this study was effective to the extent that the audience members made meaning out of the radio advocacy contents on drug abuse and were influenced to refrain from drug abuse especially those that were not drug addicts. Conclusion: This study concludes that society can chart a new course with the media setting the agenda. The radio can also be utilized to push positive agenda like stopping drug abuse among youths. It has also proven that the media do not operate in a vacuum but are subject to the various sociological, economic, religious and political configurations of the society. Unique Contribution: This study has added voice to the growing call for a drug free society. It has proven the radio and indeed the media as a development partner in any society. It shows that gradual change can happen when the media sets positive agenda in the society. Key Recommendation: The study therefore recommended that the radio should utilize other advocacy paradigms in order to make anti-drug advocacy programmes more appealing and invite more youths as guests on the programme. The study also recommended that every strata of the society from the government, non-governmental organisations, faith-based organisations to private individuals should collaborate to bring about the needed synergy that will tame drug abuse in the society.